Delta Invests $5 Million to Counter TSA Bottlenecks at Airports

Delta Air Lines announced it is spending $5 million to help passengers get through airport security checkpoint lines faster.

The Atlanta-based airline said it is adding its own staff and contractors at TSA security checkpoints at peak hours to free up TSA personnel so they can open additional lanes and focus on clearing passengers. The additional staff will perform non-screening tasks. Delta is spending close to $4 million on this front alone.

In addition, Delta is consulting with industrial engineering experts on how to redesign security checkpoints for better passenger flow. The airline has already invested some $1 million in redesigning two lanes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta’s home, to speed up the security experience.

In April, Delta announced an investment in and a partnership with Clear, a company that, using biometrics, provides expedited access to airport security checkpoints.

The coronavirus is now affecting 104 countries and territories across the globe and many travelers are postponing or cancelling their travel plans as a result.
In some cases, a traveler is holding off because travel to his destination is simply not possible due to quarantine and containment rules; in others, it’s simply a desire not to go somewhere where one might end up with the coronavirus or trapped in a quarantined …

In early May, Warren Buffett divested all of his investment firm’s holdings in the four major U.S. airlines, warning that the “world has changed” for the aviation industry due to the coronavirus crisis. In mid May, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said he saw a bumpy road ahead for the airline industry and predicted that a major carrier would not survive 2020 as a result.
It appears Buffett and Calhoun were on …